Circumstances
by Julchen M. Liddell
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, Jack Frost isn't responsible for everything that goes wrong in school. Oneshot, Highschool AU.


"Unbelievable," Aster seethed, crossing his arms and sending a narrow-eyed glare to the pale-haired boy slumped casually in the plastic chair before him. "Just bloody unbelievable."

"I don't know why you're so mad," Jack replied mildly, staring up at the ceiling. "I didn't actually do anything this time."

"Like hell you didn't! There's no way that wasn't you. If that was true, the two of us wouldn't even be here."

'Here' happened to be the principal's office, a place Jack was fairly familiar with and Aster avoided at all costs. He had a good school record, after all, and he usually never did anything to tarnish it. Now that he thought about it, how did Aster and his group become friends with Jack Frost in the first place? Jack was notorious for being the school's best prankster and got into trouble at least twice a week.

He was also notorious for being able to walk away without any sort of punishment. Nobody understood how he did that.

Normally, Jack's pranks never involved his friends, and so Aster was naturally confused when he'd gotten called down to the office in the middle of class. When he saw Jack, though, everything made sense. Sort of. He still didn't understand was _he_ was doing there.

Jack was evidently wondering the same thing. "You didn't have anything to do with what happened earlier, so I don't get why you're here too. Even if I didn't actually do anything-"

"Oh, will you quit that!?" Aster threw his arms into the air and collapsed down in the seat next to the younger boy. "You're the only person in this school who's famous for that sort of thing, and who else could it have been?"

"That Pitch guy is creepy," Jack huffed. "I swear he's out to get me."

"Pitch Black never did anything to you."

"Not yet."

"Stop," Aster instructed, raising a hand to halt any further arguments on Jack's part. "Let me finish. Don't go pinning the blame on Pitch. What evidence do you have that it was even anyone other than you?"

"You would have heard about it from me first," Jack answered simply. "Not random freshmen in the halls. I won't blame you, though; that's how everyone finds out anything. That's actually how I found out too, believe it or not."

Aster thought about that. It...was true. Jack had the habit of always going to his small group of friends and, in a somewhat quiet voice strained with the faintest hint of pride, informing them of what he'd done that day. Pretty much all of them-Aster, a very strange and colorful girl nicknamed Tooth (nobody knew her real name), a large Russian exchange student who was known only by his surname, North, and a silent blonde named Sandy- all mutually agreed that it was Jack's way of calling attention to himself.

Jack hadn't been a part of their group for very long, but even in that short amount of time they'd managed to pick up quite a bit about him, including that he'd not been given much attention most of his life. And so, they all just smiled and shook their heads whenever he pulled something that would result in at least a week's detention for any other student. He'd come around eventually, and would see that he didn't need to do such things to get attention.

Or so they hoped. Thus far, Jack was seriously betraying the group's expectations.

Aster sighed and they both looked up as the door to the office opened and the vice principal stormed out. Red-faced and shivering terribly for whatever reason, it only took one look at Jack for his face to contort into an ugly scowl.

"_You_," he spat.

Jack just blinked. "Me."

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Nothing, really. I didn't do anything."

The vice principal let out a humorless laugh. "You didn't do anything, you say! Then how do you explain what's happened today?"

"Can you be more specific? A lot of things tend to happen in one day."

The man looked to Aster like he was about to have a aneurism, and he visibly struggled through several moments of anger management. Aster nudged Jack and whispered to him to stop doing his best to infuriate people, but the other boy didn't have a chance to respond before the vice principal got himself under control again.

"Alright Mr. Frost, listen. Earlier today, someone moved all the paper files in the office to the freezer in the school kitchen. They were spread out and hidden everywhere in there, and it's taken more than two hours to find and defrost all of them. You're the only one in school capable or willing to do such a thing."

"But I didn't," Jack replied. The vice principal again looked ready to fly into an apopletic fit.

"Then who did?"

"Well, I have one theory-"

"Don't even get started," Aster cut him off crossly. "Sir, sorry to interrupt and everything, but why am I here if you're only angry at Jack?"

The man blinked at him, as though just realizing he was there. "Oh, yes. You're in the same grade as Mr. Frost, aren't you?"

"Both seniors, yes."

"Do you have any classes together?"

"A few, in the morning. First and third periods."

"Right." The vice principal took a deep breath. "The deed was done between second and third. Can you vouch for Mr. Frost?"

"I can, actually," Aster said, successfully hiding his surprise. Jack really hadn't done anything? He found that hard to believe-force of habit-but there didn't seem to be any other conclusion. Jack wasn't lying. "We met up in the hall right after second period and went to third together. He was in class the whole time, he wouldn't have had time to even make it to the office without me noticing."

The vice principal looked disbelieving, and he continued, "If you want, you can ask our other friends and our teacher. They'll say the same thing."

The vice principal's mouth was hanging open now, and his face draining of color. Aster sympathized. The man had caught Jack in the act so many times it seemed almost impossible that any other conclusion could be made. It was Jack or it was nobody, so it seemed.

The silence was broken by Jack piping up, "I think Pitch Black did it."

That snapped the adult out of his daze. "Pitch Black?" he asked skeptically. "The _valedictorian_?"

Jack nodded. "He wanted me to join his club and I said no. I think he has it out for me."

"Pitch...doesn't even have a club," Aster pointed out.

"Well, he asked me to join something. I don't know. Hey, can we leave?"

The last question was directed at the vice principal, who shook himself and said, "Ah..alright, I suppose..." He looked horribly confused. "Yes. Go back to class."

* * *

"I will never understand this," Aster said when they were safely out of the office, shaking his head in bewilderment. "I mean I know you didn't actually _do_ anything this time, but how do you never get in any trouble?!"

_"'Destiny made me what I am, but it was fate that kept me through the dark,'" _Jack quoted with a distant tone of voice, looking vaguely up at the ceiling as they walked down the hallway with his hands in his hoodie pocket. Aster stared at him.

"What does that even... Are you saying you never get in any trouble because _destiny says so?_"

"Fate," the white-haired boy corrected. "And I'm not _saying_ anything... I'm just saying."

"You make no sense. Where do you come up with this stuff?"

Jack shrugged. "I dunno."

Aster sighed. Their group clearly had a long way to go with this crazy kid.

By the end of the day, Pitch Black was suspended for freezing all the files in the office. Jack was insufferably smug for the rest of the week.

* * *

**A/N:**

** I dunno, indeed. I felt like writing this, so I did. I haven't published a oneshot in a while; most standalone stories become Snowflakes chapters, but this didn't fit in with Snowflakes since I don't do AU in that.**

** Thank you for reading and please review!**


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